How wonderful to celebrate success! This novel opens with a family travelling by train back from London, having visited The Great Exhibition of 1851. Celebrating all things industrial, it was ‘a triumph of Great Britain’, organised at the behest of Prince Albert. The Fletcher family are on the train, returning to their home in Birmingham. Like so many other working class folk, they have saved every spare penny to travel to London to see it. Pa Fletcher is proud of himself for taking his whole family to London: ‘Oh yes, the Fletcher family was travelling in style, not sitting in open trucks…like the poor passengers’ and his mood is buoyant. The good times don’t last however, and when Pa abruptly abandons and deserts them, a short time later, May Fletcher is left to cope alone with her brood of five children. Without Pa’s wages, they are quickly reduced to living in Birmingham squalor; it’s a very different existence as May tries to make ends meet. The chance of an education in the local schoolroom and any ambitions the children may have had, quickly fly out of the window and those who can are forced to earn their keep.

There is more trouble to follow as tragedy strikes and the family is separated when the Grim Reaper comes to call. Ada is the only child saved from the Workhouse and a walk through ‘The Archway of Tears’ and while at first, she is grateful, she soon realises that her escape was perhaps not so lucky after all.

When a new maid joins them, however, joy and pain are served in equal measure.

Addiction of any kind is a different form of escape but living with an addict can be akin to a prison sentence. The toll it takes is harsh and Ada ultimately discovers she has to get away. Her life has become that of a drudge, to a family struggling in ways she never knew possible, and she makes her bid for freedom.

Striking out alone is not so bad, it seems, as she takes a role in service in a comfortable house with friendly staff: it’s a roof over her head, plenty of good food, a comfortable bed and she’s paid, to boot. She misses her family and longs to know what has become of her brothers and sisters but for now, she is safe. When a new maid joins them, however, joy and pain are served in equal measure.

Class divisions and society’s expectations were very real in the nineteenth century; there was no talk then of ‘a classless society’. Money was accompanied by a sense of entitlement and power to be exerted over others. Those ‘others’, like Ada, found themselves in one cage after another. Women especially could be preyed upon by greedy and demanding men and faced dangers of all sorts even when they should have been safe.

Having had to deal with the slings and arrows of life, she surely deserves to find her own safe haven.

Ada shows resilience and imagination and has the determination to make her life right. This is another of those novels which explores the resilience of a young woman who rises from the ashes of poverty and the narrative follows a well-worn path of rags to (relative) riches, touching all the emotions on the way. She never gives up on her dream of reuniting with her siblings and the running theme is family: the strength of the family which pulls together and the importance of never letting them down.

Although the narrative is important, twisting and turning as it does, bumping into ‘old friends’ along the way, the characters, too, are well rounded enough to engage the reader who especially wants Ada to find true happiness. Having had to deal with the slings and arrows of life, she surely deserves to find her own safe haven.

Murray achieves authenticity with a detailed historical knowledge, especially of the button factories and the squalid lives of those forced to work in them, for a pittance of a wage. In a way, it’s a welcome release from the cares of today and contemporary First World problems; reading about life ‘back then’ helps you to appreciate what you have.

The Pearl Button Girl is book one in the ‘Children of Birmingham’ series and is another People’s Friend recommended novel which explores family and working life as well as Man’s frailty and the need to maintain strength of character if you are to survive.


The Pearl Button Girl is published by Pan Books